


Side Effects

by Vixen_Argentum



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, Sex, Side Effects, Sleep disorders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-05
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-01-03 14:31:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1071573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vixen_Argentum/pseuds/Vixen_Argentum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While struggling with severe insomnia Eren is prescribed a medication to help with sleep.  The medication is a godsend, yet it has one side effect that Eren struggles with: vivid and abnormal dreams about a man he's never met.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dreaming through the Noise

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't mean to start something else. But I guess my brain is just EreRi all the time now. Not that this is a bad thing. Anyway, this fic is M so far. Maybe it will turn out to be E by the end. This fic just sort of jumped out at me from left field yesterday afternoon, so I'm still adjusting to having it in my head.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Eren Jaeger…”

Eren sat in the waiting room, eyes glazed over in exhaustion.  He continued to stare at the magazine open on his lap, but he couldn’t make sense of any of the lines of text; he could only focus word by word.  Each word sort of floated around in his head, freely associating with one another into nonsensical phrases.  They repeated, over and over.  _Fascist ingredient stopping jargon.  Fellow therein shaken funeral._   Eren closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

“Excuse me, is there an Eren Jaeger here?”

Eren was jolted back into reality.  He looked up at the nurse dressed in a brightly colored dinosaur printed set of scrubs with a confused look on his face.

“Eren?  I’m going to need you to follow me,” she said cheerfully.

Eren slowly pulled himself off of the waiting room chair.  He half walked, half stumbled over to her.  Like a zombie, he schlepped himself onto the scale while she got his weight.  She spoke to him, tongue fluttering with small talk, to which he grunted answers that he hoped were right.  It wasn’t like he could concentrate on a word she was saying.  Everything was like a fly, buzz buzz buzzing in his head.

She led him into a small room with an examination table and took his blood pressure and pulse.  The blood pressure cuff had gone a bit too tight and now his arm was throbbing.  Great, something else to worry about.

“Hmmm, both your blood pressure and heart rate are a little high, but that will probably go away soon.  A lack of sleep can do that,” she assured.  “Just wait here and the doctor will be in to see you.”

Eren gazed at the posters on the walls.  The one on the wall showing the bones of the human skeleton began to jitter around, waving back and forth.  _Eren…_ the skeleton said, _spring believer sweat beloved…_   Ugh.  Not this again.

Eren closed his eyes and curled up on the examination table, trying to limit the amount of the world that he was taking in, but his brain did enthusiastic cartwheels within the confines of his skull even in the silent darkness.

The door burst open, the hinge creaking the doctor’s arrival.  Eren opened his eyes and sat up on the edge of the table.  The man before him was in his early forties, rather tall with sandy colored hair.  Eren didn’t have a regular doctor, but his best friend Armin saw this one, and he took the recommendation.

“Hello Eren, I am Dr. Sina.  What seems to be the problem that brings you in today?”

“I can’t sleep,” said Eren.  “No matter what I try, I can’t seem to do it.”

“You can’t sleep at all?  Or are you just having trouble sleeping?”  Dr. Sina tapped a pen to his lips.

Eren looked at the doctor with his bloodshot eyes.  “I’ve been awake for six days,” he slurred.  “Nothing helps.”

Dr. Sina’s eyebrows jumped.  He scribbled some notes on his clipboard.  “That’s quite serious.  Why didn’t you call earlier?”

“I dunno.  Can’t think straight,” Eren fell back on the table.  “To be honest, I thought it would go away.  I’ve tried exercise, warm baths, chamomile, melatonin, and everything else I could think of.”

“I see,” said the doctor.  “That was a good effort.  Have you stayed away from caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol?”

“I don’t smoke, I haven’t drank, and I stopped drinking coffee after day three,” said Eren.

The doctor stroked his chin.  “Have you felt anxious at all, about anything specific or general?  What has your mood been like?”

“Doctor, all I’ve felt is a lot of nothing.  Just apathy,” Eren said.  “I’m not stressed out either.”

Dr. Sina sighed.  “You’re a tough nut to crack, Eren.  I’m going to prescribe you a prescription sleep aid, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll refer you to a sleep clinic and possibly get some scans.”  He smiled.  “Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out.”

“Yeah, thanks.”  Eren accepted the script and stumbled over to the door.

After paying for his visit, he filled the prescription at the pharmacy next door.  The bus would come soon; he wouldn’t dare drive in this condition.  He slouched down on the bench at the bus stop until it came to pick him up.  Luckily it was merely a ten minute bus ride to his apartment.

Eren staggered up the stairs to his second floor apartment.  He pushed the door open anemically, making his way to the cupboard.  The medicine vial was filled with tiny yellow pills.  As much as he felt like shoveling in the whole 14 day supply, he pulled one out, swallowing it with a gulp of water.  Ugh,  it had such an acrid, bitter taste.

The sheets of his bed felt divine on his skin as he settled into it.  He nestled into his pillow and stared at the ceiling.  Would this even work?  He was kind of doubting it at this point, but with the blinds drawn and the curtains pulled tight, the room was black and inviting.

The thoughts softened and quieted.  The peace was velveteen.  Soon, without fail, Eren had drifted off to sleep.

xXx

Eren stared into the grey eyes that looked gold in the faint firelight.  He knew this man somehow; his name was Levi.  He was humanity’s finest soldier, the crown jewel of the military.  And even more than that, he was _his._

“Quiet!”  Levi whispered harshly.  “Do you want everyone to hear you?”

Eren leaned forward and kissed his lips.  “It’s not like they don’t know what we’re doing anyway.”

“Really, Eren?  You’re okay with attracting some other soldier’s horny ass over here to watch us?”  Levi hissed.

Eren sighed.  “Sorry, it’s just I can’t always help it.  It all feels so good.”

The wind picked up, blowing against Eren’s skin.  He looked down to see that he wore nothing below the waist.  It was exciting, the thrill of being outside, the chance they might be found.

Levi lay on his back and undid the buckles of his harness around his hips.  Frantically, he undid his pants, sliding the waistband down his thighs.  Eren knelt, straddling his waist.  He could feel Levi’s hand under him, slicking him as he entered with his fingers.  Eren closed his eyes and sucked in a breath, relaxing himself under Levi’s touch.  The hand withdrew and he guided Eren’s hips backward and positioned him gently.

Eren sat down, easing his way on top of Levi, mind growing more blank with every inch he took into his body.  With Levi sheathed within him, he leaned forward catching Levi’s glassy eyed, openmouthed expression.  Levi slid his hands up Eren’s bare thighs, and scratched his way down them.

“Ride me,” he commanded.  Eren blushed; no one had ever looked at him with that much desire, like he was more precious than air to a drowning man.

Eren began to rock his hips forward and backward, feeling Levi’s length shift in and out.  Levi’s hands snaked up his chest, and then gently traced down, back to his hips.  The skin left behind felt set ablaze and Eren bit his hand to keep from crying out.  Levi’s eyes went wide.

“Oh for fucks sake, if you need to cover up a sound, bite me instead, damn it.  If I have to explain any accidents on your part—“

Eren silenced him with a kiss.  He picked up the pace and rode him harder, bending over and biting Levi’s shoulder instead.  Now Levi began to assist with Eren’s work, pushing and pulling with his hands on Eren’s hips, calling on the immense power in his arms and shoulders.

Oh Eren was close.  He was so close.  He closed his eyes and threw his head back, making his rhythm even harder and faster.  It was too late; Levi would just have to be mad.  Now, right now, he was going to be screaming just as he…

 

xXx

Eren woke up with a start.  His skin burned hot and he threw off his covers.  The bedsheets below him were drenched in sweat and his hair was slick and stuck to his face.  He throbbed with morning wood or at least the wood of whatever time it was.  Stretching his arms and legs, he rolled over to look at his clock.

Apparently he had slept for 24 whole hours.  He still felt groggy, but it wasn’t the same unsettled feeling in his mind, like he was floating in demented fantasy land.  He was very clearly on earth, though it felt like the gravity was turned up an extra G.

That dream…

Eren closed his eyes and dragged his hands down his chest, remembering the touch of those other hands, the hands that reached for him ardently.  It was all so vivid, like his memory was a virtuoso of cinematography.  He shook his head, trying to clear it away, but the memories of the sounds, the scenes, the touch all clung to him.

He was getting worked up over something that never happened.  It was fake.  A figment of his imagination.  An incubus in the night.

_Levi._

Eren had heard somewhere that in dreams you only saw faces that you had seen before, but he was pretty sure that was a bunch of bullshit.  He’d never met a man who viewed the world through those heavy-lidded calculating eyes.  He’d never met a man who he wanted to look at him as something precious and something to be broken at the same time.  Hell, it was the first time he ever thought about another man that way, and his subconscious didn’t even give it a second thought.

Eren sauntered into the bathroom and turned the shower on full force.  He let the frigid water rush over his body.  It was painful, like his body was trying to escape his skin, and his heart pounded with the shock.  He stood under the showerhead as long as he could bear and then jumped backwards out of the stream, readjusting the temperature knobs.  Quickly, he caught his breath.  There, now he was awake.

Done with his shower, Eren pulled a frozen dinner out of the freezer.  The clock in the kitchen read 6:00 PM.  Great, now he had to figure out how to sleep at a normal time again.  He supposed he would just stay up this night and go to bed a little early the next night.  He’d done that once when he had to recover from major jet lag.

He glanced at the bottle of pills that was still on the kitchen counter, unmoved from yesterday evening.  Spinning it slowly in his fingers, he read the side effects.  _Dizziness, dry mouth, confusion, indigestion_ , it read.  Hmmm, he had nothing like that.  Then there it was:   _abnormal or vivid dreams_.

Eren hated to rely on medications for anything.  He suffered alone against colds and usually just waited out whatever problems he had, short of a broken bone or something serious.  But this thing with sleep, he’d have to see how he felt tomorrow night.  If he didn’t need these pills, he didn’t want to take them, but right now what choice did he have?

Tomorrow he would have to put his life back in order, squaring away his responsibilities.  He texted Armin, asking if he wanted to have lunch with him around noon.  After all, it was because of him that he actually called the doctor in the first place.  Otherwise, Armin was threatening to take him to the emergency room, and that was a more expensive bill.  There was no sense in making Armin worry any more.  Even worse, he may have pulled his sister Mikasa into it.

His dinner done cooking, he carried it out to the couch and sat himself in front of his TV.  Flipping through channels he found a marathon of action movies.  Perfect.  He just needed something that wasn’t too hard to handle.  Explosions and fast cars were very easy for his brain to process.

Still, he found himself thinking about the dream.  He closed his eyes and saw Levi’s face staring back at him, flushed with sex.  No, he had to stop thinking about this.

It was a side effect.  Just a side effect.  A side effect and nothing more.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to update. I moved 3000 miles cross country and found and started a new job which kind of ate me.
> 
> Expect an update to this much much sooner. I have big plans for this story like you wouldn't believe!

The action movie marathon lasted until midnight, which left Eren in the midst of a bizarre blending of infomercials, shopping, soft-core porn, and televangelists.  It was the graveyard slot and he was wide awake.  At 2 am, he ordered a pizza, reminding him of his teenage days when he, Armin and Mikasa would cram the nights before a test at school.  He bustled around his apartment, cleaning the dishes that were growing ‘friends’ in the sink, sorting his laundry, scrubbing down the bathroom. 

There, now the mess of the inactivity in his sleepless stupor was reversed.

 Sure, he didn’t need things spotless, but he did have the eye to know when things were going bad or down the road of no return.  His mother had at least taught him that before he struck out on his own.

The day broke at 6:17 am on the nose.  Somehow watching the sunrise made him feel a little tired, probably from all of the work he had been doing.  The coffee shop down the street would have just opened, but if he was still having trouble with insomnia, perhaps caffeine would have to wait until he had more things sorted out.  Eren changed out of his robe and into a pair of khakis and a sky blue button down. 

Maybe if he took a walk he’d be a little more alert, Eren mused.  A small but well manicured park was across the street from his apartment complex.  He brought a book and read on a park bench for a while.  Eren was grateful that the words made sense; that the sentences and sounds didn’t blend into each other into some bizarre word salad.  Though scientists may not know why humans need to sleep, the fact that they must was now clearer to Eren than it ever had been before.  He’d been bonecrushingly tired from missing a night or even just sleeping poorly, but it was nothing like what he had experienced this week.

Eren checked his watch.  He’d promised to meet Armin at the fake-snooty bistro that was about a block away.  That was a good thing considering that he sacrificed his breakfast in honor of the early morning pizza, and he was now absolutely ravenous.  Armin was already there when he arrived, standing and waving Eren over to his table.

“Eren!  Over here!”  Armin stood up at his table, waving a hand.  Eren could see relief written all over his face.

Eren sat down at the table.  Armin had already ordered him a drink, and he guzzled it down.  Eren set the glass back down in front of him.  “Have you been here long?” Eren asked.

Armin shook his head.  “No, I’m just running a little early.  I had to drop off my dry cleaning so I was in the area.”  He looked at Eren more closely, scrutinizing his face, his posture, his demeanor.

Eren smiled.  “I slept for 24 hours straight.  I still feel like I’ve been run over by a truck, but I’m not hallucinating or anything like that anymore.”

“Everyone at work was worried about you,” Armin chuckled.  “After you complained to Christa about the voices coming out of your cash drawer, she kind of orchestrated the big push to make sure that you were sent home.”

“Yeah, at that point, I was really starting to worry about what was happening to me,” Eren agreed.  “Thanks for making sure I actually got home okay.”

“Not a problem,” said Armin.  “Annie’s shift was over, so she picked me up from your place to go get my car since I drove you home in yours.”

“Oh, I see…” said Eren.

Annie had a job as a security guard at the bank where both Eren and Armin worked.  Eren had dated Annie for about six months after some of his more mischievous coworkers had set them up.  She was certainly pretty, with a body most women kill for, and she and Eren had definitely hit it off physically.  But try as Eren might, he never seemed to get any closer to her mentally; she always sidestepped questions about her past.  Eventually he broke it off, citing the emotional distance as the catalyst.  She had been fine with the decision, but he didn’t recognize the expression she wore as they parted.

“I know Mikasa would have come and picked me up, but I didn’t want her to run out of work, otherwise I’d have left Annie alone,” said Armin.

“Nah, it’s okay,” said Eren.  “Even when we were together, I think that you knew her better than I did.  And she certainly knows where I live, so she could easily come and get you.”

“She was certainly concerned about you,” Armin offered.  “The bank talks, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Eren.  “But, I think we’re better off seeing other people.  And besides, Mikasa didn’t get along with her at all.”

Armin laughed.  “Mikasa never likes anyone you date.  But she’s your older sister, so you’ll always be her little brother.”

“She’s only older by a couple months,” Eren grumbled as he rubbed his forehead.  “And I don’t give her shit for dating you!”

Armin propped his head on his hands.  “And what exactly would your brotherly instincts be triggered by?”

Now it was Eren’s turn to laugh.  “Yeah we both grew up to be pretty boring, didn’t we?  You going to school and becoming an auditor, me working full time as a teller…that’s what the problem is.  You’re too stable.”

“Don’t worry,” said Armin.  “We’re both going to see the world.  We’ll go hang gliding and bungee jumping and climb mountains and go snorkeling.  Just like we planned when we were just kids.”

“Yeah,” said Eren happily.  “Maybe we won’t be so boring after all.”

A waiter walked up to their table and Armin ordered their food, the same practiced order of one special and one oversized sandwich.

Eren spaced out as Armin spoke.  He was no longer there, he felt white-hot hands against his skin, lips that tore at him.  It was a lovely haze of passion and pleasure.  In that moment he remembered…

Eren shook his head.  He was certainly tired, but he was not going to drift off here in the middle of a restaurant.  And especially not with _that_.

“Hey, are you okay?” Armin’s hand was at Eren’s shoulder.

“I’m just a little tired still, that’s all,” said Eren.

“But who’s Levi?” asked Armin.

Eren jumped at the mention of the name and looked at Armin with a horrified expression on his face.

“Hey, calm down.  It’s okay,” Armin reassured.  “I didn’t mean to freak you out.  It was just something you said while you were out of it.”

Eren buried his face in his hands.  “You’ve been my best friend my whole life.  But this, I don’t even know if it’s supposed to mean anything, and if you tell anyone…”

“Eren, you have nothing to worry about.  And you don’t even have to tell me if you don’t want to,” said Armin.

“Well, maybe if I talked about it with someone, it will leave me alone,” said Eren, eyes shifty. 

“Your secret is safe with me.”

“I went to the doctor you suggested and he gave me a medication that has a possible side effect of vivid or abnormal dreams,” Eren prefaced.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that some will even make you sleepwalk and do dangerous stuff.”  Armin sucked in a breath.  "I've heard of people even driving in their sleep!"

“Thankfully I don’t have that.  But last night I had a dream.  It was about a man.”

“What was he like?”

“He was some sort of military commander.  He was short, with dark hair and piercing grey eyes.  And in it we…uh…”

Eren turned bright red and leaned a little closer to Armin.  “We…we had sex.”

Armin smiled disarmingly.  “There’s nothing wrong with that.  It’s just a dream.”

Eren shook his head.  “You don’t understand.  I’m not even gay.”  Eren lowered his voice.  “He penetrated me.”

Armin sighed.  “Being the receiving partner doesn’t make you gay.  Heck, even if you hooked up with another guy in real life, it still wouldn’t make you gay.  Human sexuality is more fluid than a lot of people understand.  Every straight person has that one exception that they’d do something with, even if it’s just a kiss.”

“Even you?” Asked Eren.

“Sure I’ve had some strange sex dreams, especially when I was a teenager.  But fantasy and reality don’t have much to do with each other,” said Armin blithely. 

Eren sighed.

“Yeah, I dunno.  I was really attracted to him and everything that I dreamt felt better than anything I’d ever felt with anyone I’ve ever been with in real life.”  Eren looked down.  “It keeps coming back to me.  He’s not even real but I can’t get him out of my head.”

The waiter came by and placed their meals in front of them, sashaying in and out like a friendly ghost.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but do you want to try dating a guy?” asked Armin.  “I mean, just to see if it’s really something that you’re looking for?  I mean, especially since things didn’t go so hot with Annie.”

Eren shook his head.  “It’s like you said, it was only him.  If I run across somebody like that, then maybe I will give it a try.  But it wasn’t the fact that he was a guy, there was just something about him.”

“There,” said Armin.  “Now don’t you feel better?”

“Thanks Armin.  This has been driving me crazy all day and it does feel better to unload.”  He raised an eyebrow.  “If Mikasa finds out about _any_ of this…”

Armin laughed.  “It’s just the side effects of a medicine.  Nothing to trouble her about.”

_Side effects…_

For the rest of the lunch Eren found his mind wandering, but his memories were now somehow faded.  This was better, much better.  If he kept this up for the rest of the day and slept well at night, he could return to work on Monday, easy.

 


	3. The Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren finds himself relying on medication in order to sleep. Again, he meets Levi in his dream world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um yeah. Apparently I'm narcoleptic. So the whole writing and not falling asleep in the middle of it thing has been a little hard, but at least I now have medication to combat it.
> 
> Ah well, being awake and writing a new chapter is a good start, yes?
> 
> Please enjoy. <3

Eren's day had crawled by, like an out of shape runner staggering towards the finish line.  After he had met up with Armin, Eren didn't really have plans for the day--and that was his problem.  He had been awake so long and now needed something to keep him busy.  The old usuals were gone: his apartment was clean and his magazines and newspapers were no longer current.  He could call Mikasa and let her know how he's doing, but Armin probably already did, so why bother?  He propped himself up in front of the boob tube once more and turned it to a news channel.

The news gave way to gameshows, and the sun set rapidly.  Then, all of the sudden he started perking up.  The sunrise had made him tired and the sunset was making him alive.  Ugh, how did his sleep schedule get fucked up so badly in the first place?  Eren worked quickly to try and tire himself out.  He blared his favorite rock album and sang along, dancing and doing air guitar on all the solos, sliding across the tile floor in the kitchen.  At the end, sure, his body was tired, but his mind was like a caged beast.

11:00 PM read the clock on the microwave.  He'd have to get up at 7:00 AM if he wanted to get to work on time.  Eren sighed.

He could feel it, almost like bottle of medication had eyes and was staring him down.  He looked at where he'd left the bottle.  It was on the counter, off to the side.  Eren made an annoyed face.  He really didn't want to be one of those people who needed to take sleeping pills, but if the past week was anything to go by...he didn't have a choice.

Grabbing a handful of water from the sink, he gulped down one of the little yellow pills.  This one tasted as awful as the first one, but if it meant he could sleep, he didn't care if it tasted like ass or anything else.  After changing into his pajamas, Eren fell backwards onto his bed with a dull thud.  He turned out the light and set his alarm clock, nestling into the covers.

Shit.  He still felt kind of hyper.  His mind entered as sort of fluttery feeling state.  Everything that passed through his mind all of the sudden became funny.  It became a train of dirty sounding words that weren't.  Masticate.  Coccyx.  Uranus!  Pianist!  Vagitus!   Hahaha!

And with that, unbeknownst to Eren himself, he quickly fell asleep.

xXx

Eren looked around the room.

He could certainly tell that he was in a cafe.  It had that brown wood and polished metal feel to it.  People were bustling about and he could hear the murmurs of conversation bubbling around him.  Eren frowned as he looked at his table, but finally found the menu stashed under a sheet of paper covering the other half of the table.  The menu was covered in a red, plastic faux leather, and he opened it up.

There was nothing in it.

Eren flipped from page to page, then grabbed another menu and began to tear through it.  Still, every page was completely blank.  Not a single word.  No foods or drinks.  Nothing.

Clearly there had to be some kind of mistake.

"Umm...  Excuse me?"  Eren called to who he assumed was a waiter.  There was no response.

"Hey,"  Eren caught the sleeve of another man walking by, then froze.

The man had no face.  Eren looked around at the whole room.  Not a single patron or member of the staff had a face!  Eren's eyes went wide and he let go of the waiter's shirt.  He leapt to his feet, ready to run out the door before....

"Sit back down," said a familiar voice.  "I assume you want the special, like usual."

This time, a short man with dark hair approached him holding a notepad to take orders down on.  He scribbled something down on the paper, face hidden by his hair, pausing before looking up at Eren.

"As you know, I'm Levi and I'll be taking care of you today."

Eren was frozen in place by shock.  It was _Levi._   _That_ Levi.  And what the hell did he mean by usual?  And he already knew that he'd recognize him?  But how?  And why was he a waiter in this cafe?

"I don't have all day, you know," Levi scowled.  "Do you want the special or what!?"

"Uh, sure," said Eren.  He had no idea what the "special" was.  What was he doing?  "I'll take the special."

Levi spun on a heel and walked off into what Eren assumed was the kitchen.  Eren sighed.  He continued to look around the cafe, now in a surreal amusement, rather than horror.  It was really amazing how comfortable he felt here now that he had seen Levi.  That's all it had taken.

Music started to play and faceless dancers started to move to the beat on the tops of tables.  It was all so beautiful, but still, very, very eerie.  He felt himself tripping out a bit to the entrancing music.

A rather large cup of coffee was placed in front of Eren, breaking his focus.

"Levi?" he blurted out.

"Yeah?"  Levi answered as he cocked his head.   Eren was trapped in silence.  "You're acting strange today.  Drink your coffee.  I don't have time for games tonight."  He shook his head as he walked off.

Eren grabbed the warm cup and sipped from it. 

Whoa.  That was the best coffee he had ever tasted.  He closed his eyes, savoring the taste.  Soon, as if he had just opened his throat and emptied the cup, it was gone.

Eren noticed a folded up piece of paper in the saucer.  He unfolded the delicate little folds and recognized it as a piece of paper from Levi's notepad.

_Meet me as the clock strikes 12,_ it read.

Suddenly Eren noticed several clocks hanging from the walls...but they all read different times!

Shit!  He had to meet Levi at 12, but he didn't even know when 12 was.  Eren paused for a moment.  Levi didn't say where to meet, either.

Eren stood up and whirled around the room.  This was insane.

Wait.   Hold on.

Eren realized he was wearing a watch himself.  He calmed down a second, until he noticed it was one minute away from midnight.  Again he looked all around him.  Suddenly a path opened lined with the faceless dancers.  Eren ran through it, not caring if it was right or not.  Eventually he ran into a dark hallway, with a double door leading outside.  He pushed on the double doors and ran into the cool night air.

Eren stopped, panting to catch his breath.  He was now in an alley.  The doors to the kitchen were nearby and he could see a dumpster.

"I wasn't sure if you'd make it."

Eren gasped and stared at Levi, who was illuminated under the starlight.  His white shirt was unbuttoned further than it had been in the restaurant, and he could see the hollow between Levi's collarbones.  His tongue watered at the thought of tasting him right there.

"What the hell is with you?  Get over here."

Eren gingerly approached him.  He didn't know anything about this Levi, only the memories of the one who had been in the other dream.  He didn't know if it was okay, but he reached out to Levi's face.  Levi looked up at him questioningly.

"Can I kiss you?"  The words escaped Eren's lips before he could stop them.

Levi stared flatly into Eren's eyes.  He frowned.

_Oh shit, I screwed this up._  Eren's brain frantically spun around with thoughts.

Then Eren felt himself thrown against a chain link fence.  Levi's hands pinned his shoulders there; wow he was strong.  Levi rocked up on his toes and met Eren's lips savagely.  He slowly snaked his tongue through Eren's mouth, twisting around Eren's tongue, gliding against his teeth.

Eren could do little more than moan and lean back into Levi's kiss.  He didn't want to give it up, this warm joining, or rather it felt like a claiming. 

A pair of hands worked at his pants, undoing the button, the zipper, and then they fell to the ground.  Levi pulled out of the kiss, grabbing a handful of what was his and Eren's combined spit and he reached into Eren's underwear to find his already half-hard cock.  Eren stiffened at the touch; everything was moving so fast.  Was _this_ Levi that kind of a guy?

Eren began to kiss Levi's neck and pushed his shirt back over his shoulders, moving his mouth over that exposed skin.  Levi breathed heavily into his ear and bit down on it, not gently, but certainly not painfully.  Levi's hand continued to pump Eren's length and Eren could feel himself swelling with each movement. 

Levi looked down at his hand that was covered in cum.

Eren blushed.  "I-I'm so sorry!  I think I saw a napkin somewhere..."

Levi shook his head and covered Eren's mouth with his other hand.  He looked Eren right in the eyes and began to clean his hand...with his tongue.

"But, Levi..."

"But what?  Don't be such a kid about it."  Levi smirked in amusement.  "You'd swallow all of mine."

Eren jumped at the comment.  He'd only seen Levi once before...but what he said was disgustingly true.

"I've got to go back to work," said Levi, buttoning back up his shirt.  "The special has a time limit on it, you know."

The special?  That wasn't the coffee?

"When will I see you again?"  Eren panted.  "Do you do this for other people too?"

Levi shook his head.  "Nah, I'm all yours."  He waved.  "We'll meet again, eventually."

"Hey wait!"  Eren tried to follow him, but his pants around his ankles did nothing but trip him up.  Levi disappeared into the building, door slamming shut behind him.

Pulling his pants back up and fastening them, Eren returned to the doors of the cafe.  Strange, now it was almost completely quiet.  He didn't see Levi; he didn't see anyone.  After coming back into the dining room, he saw that it was completely empty.  All except for another very familiar person sitting at a table.

"Armin?"  Eren called.

Armin beckoned for him to come over, and Eren sat at the table.

"Did you meet him here?" said Armin curiously.  Eren didn't even have to ask who _him_ was.  There was only one person it could possibly be.

A faceless waiter came out of the kitchen and brought Armin a bowl of soup.

"Yeah, I did," said Eren.  He paused.  "Do you come here a lot?"

Armin shrugged his shoulders.  "Sometimes."

"Do you order the special?" asked Eren, eyebrow raised.

"You can't order the special unless you have someone special."  Armin sipped at his soup.

"I see," said Eren.  He still didn't entirely understand how this place worked, but that was okay.

"But yes," said Armin.  He giggled softly and smiled at Eren knowingly.  "Yes I have."

xXx

The beeping of the alarm clock pulled Eren into the world.  He sat up, shaking his head trying to clear it.  He had just been having such a vivid dream.  A place that doesn't exist in this world, and he'd seen Armin in it too.  Probably since they had hung out yesterday, he was a face fresh in his mind.

And again, there was Levi.  And Levi had...  Just remembering it brought the feelings of the hot hand on his bare skin.

As Eren stood up, he noticed that the front of his pants was wet.  Holy shit!  At least he never came in his sleep, but the liquids he had been dripping were really embarrassing. 

Quickly, Eren threw himself in the shower, washed and dried himself, and he put on his very professional looking pinstripe shirt and navy blue blazer.  It always made him feel like he _looked_ his job.  He wolfed down a breakfast bar and skipped down the stairs to where his car waited in the parking lot.

Eren sat down in the driver's seat and worked the clutch.  This was going to be a nice normal day at work.  There would be no hallucinations, nothing to make others worry about him.  And sure, Levi might cross his mind again, but ever since he told Armin about him, the strength of the memories weren't so overpowering.  He had missed seeing everybody at the bank, and he wanted to let everyone know that he was okay after all.

It was amazing really; for the first time in years Eren had never felt so good.


End file.
